Joe SorianoSpurs or Lakers
May 21st 2008 07:02
Of the last ten NBA finals, the Los Angeles Lakers and San Antonio Spurs have been in eight of them, with the Spurs winning all four times they made it and the Lakers winning three of the four times they’ve been there.
But if history is any indication, the Lakers should win this series because the Spurs have never gone to back-to-back finals and the last time the two met in the Western Conference Finals, the Lakers swept 4-0.
But that’s the simple look at this series.
Regular season records:
Lakers 57-25, 30-11 at home
Spurs 56-26, 34-7 at home
Analysis: Lakers are the top seed and therefore have the home-court advantage, but as the record shows, that didn’t give them a great advantage over the season. The Spurs are nearly unstoppable at home, so the Lakers have to defend their home court well.
Offense:
Lakers: 108.58 points per game
Spurs: 95.36 ppg
Analysis: The Lakers obviously have a huge offense, built around Kobe Bryant’s 28.3 points per game, second best in the NBA. But:
Defense:
Lakers: 101.32
Spurs: 90.57
Analysis: The Spurs don’t let teams score a lot of points. So no, the don’t score as many points as the Lakers, but they don’t give up as many either.
The scoring has more to do with style of play. And that’s the biggest intangible of this series. The Spurs defense isn’t necessarily better than the Lakers, but the style is different as the Spurs play a slower style game than the Lakers’ up tempo style.
While the Lakers are a solid 54-10 when the scored 100 or more points, why drop to 24-20 when they allow 100. The Spurs are an impressive 27-1 if they score 100 points, but a mere 5-10 if their opponents do.
Whoever controls the tempo of the games should control the outcome as well.
The teams split the regular season series, each winning two games, and the outcomes of those games followed that pattern, the winning team hit 100, the loser did not.
Tim Duncan, Mani Ginobili and Tony Parker give the Spurs a solid trio, and Kobe is all the Spurs really need. All in all, surprisingly the Lakers probably have the better supporting cast, but I think in the end the Spurs probably prevail in this series in 7.
But if history is any indication, the Lakers should win this series because the Spurs have never gone to back-to-back finals and the last time the two met in the Western Conference Finals, the Lakers swept 4-0.
But that’s the simple look at this series.
Kobe Bryant has been the force for the Lakers
Manu Ginobili is one of the NBA's top clutch performers
Regular season records:
Lakers 57-25, 30-11 at home
Spurs 56-26, 34-7 at home
Analysis: Lakers are the top seed and therefore have the home-court advantage, but as the record shows, that didn’t give them a great advantage over the season. The Spurs are nearly unstoppable at home, so the Lakers have to defend their home court well.
Offense:
Lakers: 108.58 points per game
Spurs: 95.36 ppg
Analysis: The Lakers obviously have a huge offense, built around Kobe Bryant’s 28.3 points per game, second best in the NBA. But:
Defense:
Lakers: 101.32
Spurs: 90.57
Analysis: The Spurs don’t let teams score a lot of points. So no, the don’t score as many points as the Lakers, but they don’t give up as many either.
The scoring has more to do with style of play. And that’s the biggest intangible of this series. The Spurs defense isn’t necessarily better than the Lakers, but the style is different as the Spurs play a slower style game than the Lakers’ up tempo style.
While the Lakers are a solid 54-10 when the scored 100 or more points, why drop to 24-20 when they allow 100. The Spurs are an impressive 27-1 if they score 100 points, but a mere 5-10 if their opponents do.
Whoever controls the tempo of the games should control the outcome as well.
The teams split the regular season series, each winning two games, and the outcomes of those games followed that pattern, the winning team hit 100, the loser did not.
Tim Duncan, Mani Ginobili and Tony Parker give the Spurs a solid trio, and Kobe is all the Spurs really need. All in all, surprisingly the Lakers probably have the better supporting cast, but I think in the end the Spurs probably prevail in this series in 7.
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